Related Stories

SUDBURY, Ont. -- A plane that crashed is dense northern Ontario bush last week killing the three people on board "came apart in the air," an investigator said Monday.

Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada investigator Don Enns said the plane appears to have fallen apart as it tried to return to the Sudbury airport.

"It's actually three accident sites -- there's the main site, with the engine, part of one of the wings and most of the tail section is located there, impacted on a rock face right beside the water," Enns said. "Then about a quarter-mile away there's the main section of the left-hand wing."

About a mile from that are the remains of the right wing.

The crash killed well-known Sudbury lawyer Leo Arseneau, 64, his wife Mary Lou, 65, and her caregiver, whose name has not been released.

The six-seater Piper aircraft Arseneau was flying went down in a densely forested area near the mouth of the French and Pickerel Rivers last Tuesday.

So far, investigators have determined he was flying southbound, heading to North Carolina, at about 10,000 feet before initiating a turn to the west. At that time, he notified air traffic controllers that he was returning to Sudbury.

"They responded and cleared him down to 5,000 feet, and asked if there was anything else they could do for him," Enns said.

The air traffic controllers received no response.

At that point, the plane began to descend "extremely rapidly," Enns said, adding he does not believe there was an explosion, but suspects the craft was "over-stressed," likely due to excessive speed.

"The question there is how and why," he said. "We know it came apart in the air; we don't know why yet. Part of figuring out why is determining exactly what the sequence of failure was."

While the details remain unknown, Enns said it was quick.

"Two of the people were actually thrown out of the airplane and whatever happened, happened extremely quickly. You can pretty much say this was immediate," he said.

A data recorder has not been recovered, however, investigators have found an emergency locator transmitter.

The insurance company will remove the plane parts by helicopter and the TSB will transport the remains to Toronto. The time frame for recovery is weather-dependent.

Once the plane has been relocated and reassembled, Enns said it will be easier to learn exactly what happened.